SAN JOSE — A 37-year-old man charged with setting fire to eight vehicles in west San Jose late last month was arraigned Thursday in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

Judge Daniel Nishigaya ordered defendant Jason Troy Gilliland to remain in county jail on $500,000 bail, appointed a lawyer from the county public defender”s office to represent him and set Gilliland”s next court appearance for Jan. 15.

Gilliland did not enter a plea at the hearing. With a scraggly beard protruding from his chin, he entered the courtroom wearing a brown jail shirt with red pants and smiled and looked at the audience before leaving.

Prosecutors have charged him with eight felony counts of arson in fires set inside as many cars, including one started on Dec. 22, another just after midnight Dec. 23 and six additional ones on Dec. 30, all in the area of South Bascom Avenue, Leigh Avenue and Stokes Street.

The first fire, set in the evening of Dec. 22, burned a 2014 Nissan Frontier pickup truck at 1501 S. Bascom Ave. and the next one on Dec. 23 charred a 1997 Toyota Corolla in the vicinity, according to prosecutors.

Another six vehicles were set ablaze on Dec. 30 in the same neighborhood, prosecutors said.

Arson investigators from the San Jose Fire Department found rocks apparently used by the suspect to break glass windows of at least some of the vehicles to gain entry before setting them on fire.

Gilliland had lighters in his possession when fire investigators located and detained him prior to his arrest by San Jose police, according to the district attorney”s office.

The defendant also faces enhancement charges, each of which could add a year to his sentence if he is convicted, for having previously served time in jail or prison for felony possession of combustible materials and vandalism.

The fires have deprived the owners of the vehicles of transportation needed for their livelihoods and some did not have the kind of insurance required to replace them if damaged by fire, prosecutors said.